SB 10.18.9 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

Devanagari

प्रवालबर्हस्तबकस्रग्धातुकृतभूषणा: । रामकृष्णादयो गोपा ननृतुर्युयुधुर्जगु: ॥ ९ ॥

Verse text

pravāla-barha-stabaka- srag-dhātu-kṛta-bhūṣaṇāḥ rāma-kṛṣṇādayo gopā nanṛtur yuyudhur jaguḥ

Synonyms

pravāla — newly grown leaves ; barha — peacock feathers ; stabaka — bunches of small flowers ; srak — garlands ; dhātu — and colored minerals ; kṛta — bhūṣaṇāḥ — wearing as their ornaments ; rāma — kṛṣṇa — ādayaḥ — headed by Lord Balarāma and Lord Kṛṣṇa ; gopāḥ — the cowherd boys ; nanṛtuḥ — danced ; yuyudhuḥ — fought ; jaguḥ — sang .

Translation

Decorating themselves with newly grown leaves, along with peacock feathers, garlands, clusters of flower buds, and colored minerals, Balarāma, Kṛṣṇa and Their cowherd friends danced, wrestled and sang.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Decorating themselves with newly grown leaves, along with peacock feathers, garlands, clusters of flower buds, and colored minerals, Balarāma, Kṛṣṇa and Their cowherd friends danced, wrestled and sang. KB 10.18.9 They walked into the midst of newly grown leaves of trees whose flowers resembled peacock feathers. They were garlanded by those flowers and decorated with saffron chalk. Sometimes they were dancing and singing and sometimes wrestling with one another.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Here Balarama is also addressed as gopa to indicate that even he became absorbed in his identity as an ordinary cowherd boy.

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

This verse shows that the boys in playing chose at their will what to do. Though they were most expert, the two boys identified themselves as cowherds and did not distinguish themselves from others and thus obtained the highest bliss. Thus Śukadeva simply says “Balarāma, Kṛṣṇa and other boys.” Absorbed in the pastimes they danced, fought and sang.

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

This verse shows that the other boys were suitable for play or were naturally suitable by their skill in dancing, decorating themselves with forest ornaments and expressing great joy at all times. Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma, by absorption in these cowherd pastimes, show their identity as cowherds only. Or the verse expresses that without exception all the boys played like Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. Using their names also indicates that all the boys took pleasure in (rāma) and were attracted to (kṛṣṇa) the two boys dancing and other actions. That will be the indication in later verses also. First they all danced in joy, without instruments. Then they wrestled passionately because they were of equal strength. They then sang joyfully on winning. Or some danced, some fought and some sang since that is mentioned in the next verse. Others played instruments. That should be understood for this verse also, since they could not dance without music. At first they danced out of great joy, spontaneously, and later with music.